Virginia Tech Baseball: Hokies Eliminated from ACC Tournament at Hands of Clemson

After breezing by Stanford in the opening round of play, the No.12 Virginia Tech Hokies (31-25, 12-18 ACC) were unable to make past the ACC powerhouse of the No.5 Clemson Tigers (42-15, 18-12) with a hard-fought loss, 6-1.

Tech was able to sneak by the Cardinal with a freshman Jake Marciano, on the bump on Tuesday, being able to save All-ACC third team pitcher Brett Renfrow for the contest against the Tigers.

Ben Watson wasted no time jumping on Clemson's pitcher, Aidan Knaak. Punishing the Tigers' ace after Knaak left a changeup over the heart of the plate--allowing the southpaw Watson to send the baseball into orbit down the right field line and extend his hit streak to an impressive 21 straight games.

Tech wasn't able to sit on the lead for long, giving up the opening run in the same fashion against Stanford.

Cam Cannarella and Jarren Purify started the offensive attack for Clemson with back-to-back licks to lead off the bottom of the inning. With Cannarella situated at third, Renfrow delivered his pitch far left, Henry Cooke made a valiant effort in retrieving the ball and still getting the tag out at home to no avail for the Tigers to knot up the contest one a piece.

Clemson wasn't content with just tying the game heading into the second, left fielder Dominic Listi reacted on his first pitch with one swing, giving himself two RBIs and the Tigers the lead in the process to match Watson's home run in the top of the frame, 3-1.

After a rocky first inning for both sides on the mound, that gave the time needed for both Renfrow and Knaak to settle into their first ACC tournament appearance of the season. Allowing both to calmly work their way through the following innings without much stress.

Cooke picked up his first hit of the game in the top of the second, before gloving two strikeouts from Renfrow in response in the bottom of the second.

An inning of baseball only requires six outs to be made. In the third inning, the two elite ACC arms only needed six combined batters to roll over to the fourth.

Through the third inning, with three strikeouts, Renfrow was pitching to keep the Hokies within arm's length of the Tigers. Knaak was firing right back; however, not letting his arm falter as he carved through the Tech lineup.

Cooke continued his perfect day at the plate with a one-out single that moved Jackson Cherry into scoring position at second. Knaak sent down Cam Pittman with a vicious strikeout to end the inning after the slight threat from Tech.

A leadoff four-pitch walk drawn by catcher Jacob Jarrell could have spelled disaster for the Hokies, yet in the ensuing three batters, Renfrow only tallied three more strikeouts on his impressive outing.

Clemson was able to break through Renfrow to tack on a few more insurance runs in the fifth. Listi stepped back up to the dish with runners on first and second.

If the ACC Tournament wasn't being held in Durham with the infamous 37-foot blue monster in deep left field, Listi would have sent himself in a trot around the bases. Instead, he had to settle for a moonshot double that hit the warning track on the fly to pick up two more RBIs on his impressive day.

The Hokies were now down four runs in a single-elimination ACC tournament format. Looking for any way to crawl back into this game, Tech would need to fight through Knaak. A challenge that proved tough, as Knaak sent down the Hokies in the sixth with his second perfect inning of the afternoon.

Back-to-back hits from TP Wentworth and Andrew Ciufo at the bottom of the Tigers' lineup ended Renfrow's day, tossing 5.1 innings and giving up eight hits to a competitive ACC foe. Giving the ball to the southpaw junior, Brendan Yagesh.

Yagesh entered to face the top of the lineup in Cannarella. An at-bat that resulted in both parties achieving a favorable result--Yagesh got the out in Cannarella with a fly ball to center field, but the Tigers had Wentworth waiting at third to scurry home the 90 feet for the final score of the contest, 6-1.

After going up five, Knaak's outing was over on the mound, throwing six full frames with six strikeouts to go along. The Hokies faced two pitchers here on out, Jacob McGovern and Joe Allen, only reaching base in one of the three remaining innings.

The only Hokie to reach after the sixth was a leadoff four-pitch walk drawn by Watson to start the eighth. Allowing the Tigers' pitching staff to run away with the game and punch their ticket to the quarterfinals to play the NC State Wolfpack.

If Tech wishes to have more action in the 2025 campaign, luck will need to fall in their way. With 32 at-large spots open for the round of 64 in the NCAA tournament, the Hokies will need to beat out a handful of bubble programs to make regional competition.

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